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The seed industry in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has cautioned the governments that if bureaucratic hurdles are not removed the States might see flight of more seed firms. Frequent vigilance raids, delays in assigning licences and payment of subsidies are hurting the interests of the industry that helped the region earn the sobriquet Seed Capital of the country.
The two States account for about 60 per cent of all the seed that the country produced, with production payments touching the ₹7,200-crore mark. Over two lakh farmers are engaged in seed production in pact with over 400 firms. “The industry is moving away from the region because of these hurdles. There is no clarity on co-marketing of the seeds despite several appeals from the industry,” ASN Reddy, a leader of Seedsmen Association, has said.
Addressing the 20{+t}{+h} annual general meeting of the Association here on Wednesday, he said the region had 45 lakh sq ft of seed warehousing capacity and a cold storage capacity of 60 lakh sq ft. The industry employs 17,000 people, while indirectly supporting over one lakh casual labour.
Seedsmen Association President M Harish Reddy said the seed industry requires huge capital for investments in technology, manpower, processing and other infrastructure.
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